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Tire PSI

Old 11-07-19, 10:24 PM
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MAK
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Tire PSI

I just went tubeless with my hardtail. I'm 220 lbs. and the tires are Schwalbe Rocket Ron's. I read somewhere that correct psi should be my weight/7 +1 for the rear and my weight/7-1 for the front. This puts me at 30 front and 32 rear (rounded). Does this sound right? What do other 220 lb. riders ride at? FYI...The Rocket Ron's indicate a maximum 35 psi.

I'll be riding single and double track trails with some roots and rocks but nothing very sketchy or anything airborne for now. 🙂

Thank you for your advice.
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Old 11-07-19, 10:55 PM
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Originally Posted by MAK
I just went tubeless with my hardtail. I'm 220 lbs. and the tires are Schwalbe Rocket Ron's. I read somewhere that correct psi should be my weight/7 +1 for the rear and my weight/7-1 for the front. This puts me at 30 front and 32 rear (rounded). Does this sound right? What do other 220 lb. riders ride at? FYI...The Rocket Ron's indicate a maximum 35 psi.

I'll be riding single and double track trails with some roots and rocks but nothing very sketchy or anything airborne for now. 🙂

Thank you for your advice.
seems high, I'm 50 lighter but running at about 20 pounds
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Old 11-07-19, 11:49 PM
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Depends on the weather for me. On a day of good riding conditions, I have 19 - 20 in the front and 22 - 23 in the rear. If it has been raining, I drop both. My weight is about 215 with a full suspension. Are your tires rock hard at that psi? You must roll pretty fast haha.
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Old 11-08-19, 12:13 PM
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I also think your running pressure is too high. I run 20-22 front and 23-24 in the rear on good condition days. My rider weight (loaded) is about 200 lbs.
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Old 11-08-19, 01:34 PM
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Nobody here is going to be able to tell you the right PSI for you. The weight/7 thing is just a rough starting point. If you ride super aggressive in a rocky area that might be too low, if you ride like a normal human on average trails it is probably high. If you ride a hardtail you are going to need more in the rear than if you ride a full suspension. 29er needs less than a 27.5, a 2.0 wide tires needs more than a 2.8, blah blah. If you are getting rim strikes raise the psi, if you are bouncing all over the place and/or lack traction lower it. You just have to play around with it.
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Old 11-08-19, 01:55 PM
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Rim width? Tire width? Try this, sit on the bike, both tires should squish a bit.
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Old 11-08-19, 09:15 PM
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Originally Posted by MAK
I just went tubeless with my hardtail. I'm 220 lbs. and the tires are Schwalbe Rocket Ron's. I read somewhere that correct psi should be my weight/7 +1 for the rear and my weight/7-1 for the front. This puts me at 30 front and 32 rear (rounded). Does this sound right? What do other 220 lb. riders ride at? FYI...The Rocket Ron's indicate a maximum 35 psi.

I'll be riding single and double track trails with some roots and rocks but nothing very sketchy or anything airborne for now. 🙂

Thank you for your advice.
Two biggest factors are weight and tire width. You gave your weight, but not tire width.

Even then folks can really only give you a starting point. Many other factors matter like tire casing, where you ride, how you ride, and if you are running tubeless.
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Old 11-10-19, 02:48 PM
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Thanks for the responses. Based on questions from above, the tires are 27.5+/2.8". I rode 13 miles today (first actual ride other than dealer test rides) at 26 psi front and back and will experiment by adding and subtracting 1 or 2 psi every ride or so until I'm 100% comfortable. Next ride will be 24 psi front.

It was a mental thing with me. As a road rider, it's strange looking down and seeing 2.8" knobbies. It's also very strange going from 120 psi to a psi in the twenties. Now that I have confidence that I'm not going to pinch flat and that these tires will roll over most anything, I'm pretty much set to go. BTW...Today's ride was a blast.
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Old 11-10-19, 04:25 PM
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Originally Posted by MAK
Thanks for the responses. Based on questions from above, the tires are 27.5+/2.8". I rode 13 miles today (first actual ride other than dealer test rides) at 26 psi front and back and will experiment by adding and subtracting 1 or 2 psi every ride or so until I'm 100% comfortable. Next ride will be 24 psi front.

It was a mental thing with me. As a road rider, it's strange looking down and seeing 2.8" knobbies. It's also very strange going from 120 psi to a psi in the twenties. Now that I have confidence that I'm not going to pinch flat and that these tires will roll over most anything, I'm pretty much set to go. BTW...Today's ride was a blast.
2.8s are pretty big and allow for pretty low pressures. The weight/7 rule of thumb is for standard tires (2.2-2.4ish). You can go a lot lower with 2.8s.

I would go ahead and drop down to 20/23 front rear, and drop from there. With tires that large, you may find them too squirmy before you have issues with rim strikes.
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